Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Medicine - Department of Pediatrics

Background : Bronchial asthma is one of the most common chronic conditions affecting children. It is a heterogeneous disease with multiple, overlapping phenotypes. Biomarkers are currently being investigated to better characterize the disease phenotypes and to identify the response to specific targeted therapies. There are some biomarkers for asthma diagnosis but they are often dif{uFB01}cult in clinical use, particularly in pediatric cases. Periostin is an extracellular matrix protein, upregulated in response to IL-4 or IL-13. Serum periostin is expected to be used as a non-invasive biomarker for asthma diagnosis and management.Objectives: The aim of this study is to assess serum level of periostin in children with asthma before and after treatment with inhaled corticosteroid.Patients and methods: This is a comparative study of twenty nine asthmatic children and thirty healthy, non-asthmatic children as a control group. Both two groups aged from 6 to 12 years. Bronchial asthma was diagnosed according to Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) 2017. Lung function, blood eosinophil counts, total immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels and serum periostin levels were assessed

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